To: "election-law@mailman.lls.edu" <election-law@mailman.lls.edu>
The Independent Party of Oregon was created by voter petition in
2006 (certified in January 2007). Until this year, 2011, the Oregon
voter registration forms had never allowed anyone to register as
"independent" or "Independent." If the voter did not check a box
next to the name of an existing major or minor party (or check a box
for "Other Party" and fill in the name of the other party), then the
voter was considered "non-affiliated." There was also a box on the
form for "Not a member of a party."
Between 2007 and this year, anyone who joined the Independent Party
of Oregon needed to check a box for "Independent Party." This is
different from Maryland, where "Independent" alone was a choice.
Also, in Maryland the officers of the Independent Party failed,
since November 2008, to file legally required papers or to respond
to inquiries from the Secretary of State. Its dissolution was not
because of its name.
With no notice to any of the minor parties, the Secretary of State
of Oregon recently changed the paper form so that the choice of
parties is presented in this manner:
None of the minor parties asked for this change. It does have the
benefit of emphasizing "Not a member of a party" at the top of the
list, which is good, but it unfortunately omits the word "Party"
after the name of each party.
On the web form, the partes are still presented with the name
"Party" following each one, and "Not a member of a party" is a
choice.
There is an official "Independent Party" in each of at least these
other states: Delaware, Connecticut, Florida, New Mexico.
The Oregon bill would ban use of the word "independent" in the name
of any party. Thus, it would also ban the American Independent
Party (which nominated George Wallace in Oregon in 1964 and others
in later presidential elections) and the Independent Initiative
Party, which was created by supporters of Ross Perot for the 1992
presidential election in Oregon. Because Perot won 23% of the
Oregon vote that year, the Independent Initiative Party
automatically became Oregon's third major party. It voluntarily
changed its name to the American Party and then was dissolved about
3 years later due to its failure to meet the voter registration
threshold or to run a candidate garnering sufficient votes in the
prior (1994) election.
Dan Meek
10949 S.W. 4th Ave
Portland, OR 97219
503-293-9021 phone
866-926-9646 fax dan@meek.net
